August 2016 Meeting
Rob Peterson hosted our August 27, 2016, meeting at his home in Sterling, VA. Around twenty of us had the pleasure of seeing an aquascaping demonstration by Jen Williams.
At the beginning Kris Weinhold gave some of the general guidelines (called the Rule of Thirds) often used for aquascaping. Basically you imagine two horizontal lines dividing the top to bottom of the aquarium into thirds; then two vertical lines dividing the left to right side of the aquarium into thirds. The theory is that the intersection points of the grid should be the locations of the most interesting parts of the aquascape.
The actual aquascaping itself began by putting the substrate in the aquarium. For this aquascape they were going to use mineralized soil. (For a detailed explanation of this see http://gwapa.org/wordpress/articles/min … substrate/ ) They began by spreading a little dolomite on the bottom of the aquarium.
The remaining substrate ingredients were added to a level of one to two inches.
Next they added the rocks and wood that will be part of the aquascape.
Next add some water, so the plants can be easily inserted into the substrate.
Choose and add the plants.
Fill the tank with water. Aquascape finished!